An inference question about a study tests whether you can turn its results into a useful recommendation. Read the sentence leading into the blank to see what the advice needs to accomplish. Then compare what was tested and what happened, including any conditions the researchers checked. Predict a conclusion that goes no further than the results, so your advice stays within the study. A recommendation goes past the text if it depends on a benefit the researchers never tested.
Hints
- Hint 1
Focus on what the building changes are meant to prevent. What result would show that a change helped?
- Hint 2
Compare the collision results for each kind of glass. How do the findings under different lighting conditions affect the recommendation?
Step-by-step
Turn trial results into a recommendation
Step 1Set the goal
Start with when retrofitting buildings to reduce bird strikes: the blank asks what builders should change to prevent collisions. What result would support that advice? We need evidence that a window change reduced collision rates, because the goal is to stop birds from hitting the glass.
- Step 2
Check how broadly the benefit held
How widely did the patterned panes help? They reduced collisions by about 70% for both day-active and night-migrating species, and the effect lasted under both bright interior lighting and dim conditions. Those conditions matter because the recommendation is for buildings, not for a single bird group under one lighting level. We can say the patterns helped across the situations tested without claiming they prevent every collision.
- Step 3
Compare the other treatments
The other treatments give us a contrast: plain tinted glass or thicker glass did not significantly reduce collision rates. Can those results support advice about preventing strikes? They showed no clear collision benefit, so the results support using patterned panes rather than changing tint or thickness.
- Step 4
Apply the result to existing windows
What building change follows from that difference? The patterns were visible to birds, so adding them to existing window surfaces gives birds a way to detect the glass and avoid it. The choice to apply ultraviolet-reflective patterns uses what worked in the trials to update existing windows, which is what the blank asks for. Choice D.